The Tales We Tell
by spacEnigma83
Summary: As far as a timeline, This could be after 2X09 Queen of Hearts. Emma initiates a conversation with Snow White about how she almost killed Mulan. It was just a scene that made me gasp this season so I wrote about it... then I got caught up in the Story Telling and it turned into something else... Sorry. It's actually an Emma/Snow/James story.
1. Chapter 1

The Tales We Tell

Sitting at the kitchen table in the apartment she once shared with Mary Margaret, Emma now finds herself wanting to get some answers from the infamous Snow White seated across from her.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you. It's about when we were back in, you know, Fairytale land." Emma says with a funny wave of her hands.

"Sure... what about it?" Snow responds giving a sideways glance.

"When Mulan took the compass from me and ran for it. When she was going to try to trade it for Aurora..."

"Uh huh..."

"You... well when you tackled her to the ground and you had that arrow pressed to her neck..."

"Yes?"

"You weren't really going to kill her were you?" She asks with a testy expression.

"Well... yes, that was the plan in that moment. I was going to do whatever it took to get us home. She was... well, quite frankly she was in our way."

"I..." Emma starts, gaping her mouth at her own loss of words, "I... was kind of afraid of you."

"You were afraid of me?" Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"I mean she was trying to call your bluff by baiting you on... I just... I swear I thought I was going to explode in that moment. I was so glad Aurora showed up when she did. I didn't want to watch you kill her."

"I'm sorry. I can't even imagine what you might have been thinking."

"Oh, I can tell you exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking... _Holy Crap! Holy Crap! She's going to kill her_... and I couldn't make myself look away."

"Truthfully, I don't know if I would have gone through with it." Shaking her head at the thought.

"Well you seemed pretty set on it. Have you ever... killed anyone before? I mean, back in the day?"

"Emma I... No, I have never killed anyone before. I mean I did try to... once... but I was not myself then."

"What do you mean?"

"I was under a spell. I had taken a potion that took a few of my memories from me. I was trying to get over... something..." She was hoping to leave out a few details for Emma's sake, "and somehow with my judgment clouded, feeling like everyone was against me, I lashed out and was going after... someone." Suddenly feeling ashamed she looks around uncomfortably.

"Who?" Her brow wrinkled with worry.

"I was going after Regina." She says with a wave of her hand as if to brush it off.

"Regina?! You were going to kill her?"

"I would have too if your father had not stopped me. He jumped out in front of my arrow. I hit him instead." She made a grim face at her admission.

"Snow White was willing to commit murder for revenge? I did not see that one coming. I guess it's lucky David... I mean James... lucky he stopped you."

"Yes, lucky he found me. I mean I hurt him in the process but he saved me from myself. He stopped me, he said, because he didn't want me to forget who I was. He didn't want me to take a life. That's not who I was before the potion."

"... and you were going to throw that all away by killing Mulan over a compass?" She asks with what appeared to be a grimace. "Not really worth it."

"I'll admit it was a low point. To attempt to take the life of another... to fall into that darkness... It's not something you plan for."

"... and it's not something you come back from either. I mean even with all the anger I have towards someone, Regina even, I don't think I could kill her. That just threw me... seeing you pull back to do the deed. I was just... I was panicking."

"I know. I know... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. You didn't actually do anything. It's just that... I mean what the hell was running through your mind? What sort of feeling would push you past your limit?"

"Desperation." She answers quickly knowing it was the only answer.

"Desperation?"

"I had almost given up hope. We had gone too far, endured too much to let it all slip away like that. I needed to get to Charming and we both needed to get back to Storybrooke. I just felt like our chances were fading in that moment. I lashed out. I reacted... badly."

"Hang on, hang on... Let's rewind here... what was it that you were trying to forget when you took that potion?" She asks clearly curious.

"I... I don't want to talk about it." Snow says turning to avoid Emma. She suddenly felt put on guard. "Look... I've got some things to do... I should..." she gets up from her seat at the table but Emma gets up to follow.

"Oh no, no, no, you pull stuff out of me all the time." Her tone somewhat accusatory. "I want to know. I never ask you these kinds of questions... come on..."

Suddenly James walks in with a smile on his face. "What are you ladies talking about?"

"Nothing." Snow mutters under her breathe before walking away and out the door.

"Hey!" Emma shouts at Snow which does nothing to stop the woman from leaving.

"What was that all about?" James asks gesturing towards the door.

"She's... I don't know. I guess she's avoiding my question which you know... isn't really fair. You guys have done nothing but ask me countless questions these last few days and I've answered most of them. All I want are a few answers to my questions with this little story and suddenly she's mad at me." Giving him this incredulous look.

"Well, what exactly were you two talking about before I walked in?"

"I was asking her about... something..." Suddenly unsure if she should share the Mulan story with James, "and that reminded her of another story. She said she had taken a potion to forget something and almost killed Regina."

"Oh... _that_... well that was a bad time for her."

"Well, why don't you tell me about it then. I want to understand and since apparently she's not talking to me..." she sighs not even bothering to finish her sentence.

"It is strange that it would upset her... How about I tell you my side of that same story and we'll figure it out."


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay so... why did she take the potion?"

"She wanted to forget me. She wanted to forget about me because she was in love with me."

She laughs before blurting, "What?! Why would she want to do that?"

"Snow had been on the run from Regina a very long time. When we met I was betrothed to Princess Abigail..." He loses his trail of thought on account of he didn't know if he should mention Abigail being Kathryn in Storybrooke. "Um... anyway, It was love at first sight."

"Oh brother..." She says rolling her eyes.

He laughs at her reaction before continuing. "Yes, it was love at first sight. I mean she was robbing me at the time but that didn't matter. I'm pretty sure I loved her from that moment on."

Emma slightly covers her face with one hand after noticing how pathetic and incredibly familiar this story was starting to sound. Considering it was coming from the mouth of her father made her all that more uncomfortable with the gushiness of it.

"She robbed me thinking that Abigail and I were a part of Regina's guard. She said she usually only stole from Regina. So she robbed me and ran with my stuff but of course I found her. I always find her."

"I've noticed. I can't believe this. My own mo... I mean... Snow White was a thief?" Emma asks.

"She wasn't always. She was robbing Regina and only Regina, mostly to prove a point, but also to survive in the woods. She used what she stole to take care of herself. Over the course of the day I tracked her down and asked for my jewels back. She said she had sold them to some Trolls but she agreed to help me get them back and in return I would not share her ware bouts with Regina as she was, like I said, on the run."

"This just gets better and better." She says with a grin. "I just can't believe this is Snow White we're talking about. I thought she was this sweet little fairytale princess. Not this thieving, arrow-slinging, butt kicking... person."

"Yeah. That's nothing compared to who she was when she drank that potion."

"Can we just skip on to that part of the story? I mean I like where this is going, I really do, but I just want to hear about that part more."

"Alright. Like I said... she took a potion to forget about me or more importantly to forget that she loved me because we were not able to be together. What she didn't know at the time was that it would take away her love completely. In truth that was who she was. She was a loving and caring person. She had a good heart and so without that love she was not the same. You thought she was a butt kicker then... after she took that potion she took down a knight." He laughs at the memory.

"What's so funny about that?" She asks with a smile.

"She uh... well when I went after her to stop her from trying to kill Regina I ran into that Knight. He was... well he was naked and cowering in the forest."

"What?!" She laughs.

"Apparently she had..." He tries to control his laughter, "She had threatened him for information about Regina and her travels. When he described her I swear I thought he was talking about Regina. I asked him who had done this to him and he said... _She's crazy! She had a pick axe..._ she had threatened to skin him. He was extraordinarily terrified of her. I mean sure it's funny now but at the time I was worried... not to mention a little afraid of her."

"See... that's what I was telling her. I was afraid of her when I thought she might have been able to kill someone."

"Is that what happened? That can't be why she's upset."

"No... see, it doesn't make any sense. She just ran off." She pauses for a moment to think and comes to a conclusion. "You know, if Mary Margaret were here she'd be jumping at the chance to share her past with me. As Snow White she's... closed off, bottled up, walled off, she sounds just like..."

"You?" James says with a grin.

_"Oh great I'm just like my mother." _She thinks to herself before saying, "I get it now... I pushed her too hard and now she's mad..." She says eyeing James with a pained look. "I would have reacted the same way."

He smiles trying to reassure her. "Maybe she just needed to get a hold of herself before she could open up to you. Like you pointed out... this isn't Mary Margaret anymore. Snow holds herself to higher standards. She doesn't like people to know she's in pain. She barely trusts anyone..."

"Except you. I can see why. I like James better than David. I probably would not have figured all of this out with David. He didn't catch on as quickly as you."

"Well I guess it's lucky for us that I am nothing like David." he smiles.

"I guess I have to approach things differently with her now. Who knew it would be this... hard?" She realizes. "No wonder Mary Margaret was always frustrated with me when I wouldn't share things with her."

"Snow is definitely different. She loves fiercely, she puts the people she cares for first no matter the cost to herself, she doesn't hold back when it comes to a fight, but you ask her to share what she's thinking and she gets a bit... touchy." He says with a quirky grimace. "That's what I love about her though. Her strength. Her authority. Her boldness. Her fire."

"Yeah, Mary Margaret was rarely upset with me. I think the only time I ever made her truly angry was when I tried to leave town without telling her." She pauses a moment before declaring, "Well... this all explains it. Now I just have to figure out how to talk to her without upsetting her again. She will come back right?"

"Yes. She will." His face suddenly lit up. " You know Emma? This was actually a lot of fun. I think it's the first time we've actually shared anything with each other really."

"Yeah, I guess it is..."

"You just seem so... so different. I guess you seem happier. Giddy even."

"I know I feel it too." She stops to think. "When I was stuck back in your old world things just kept coming at us full force. I started to find myself... I don't know... enjoying it. I mean it was dangerous... running from Ogre's, the undead... stuff like that, but even with all that I was kind of excited. I imagine that's the way Henry felt once the curse broke. He just had this little twinkle in his eye when he finally had his whole fairytale curse theory validated. Now all I want to do is... well... I want to know more. It's... it's so unlike me..."

"But it's a part of you." He says smiling. "It's natural to want to know about your family."

"Yeah, and now that I have this chance I sort of can't help myself."

"Well... you should tell that to Snow. I think if she sees this side of you she'll be able to open up more." He laughs, "It's so strange how you both seemed to have switched places here."

"You say strange, I say crazy." She smiles. "Well... I guess until she gets back I'll head up to my room to catch up on your fairytale. Henry left the book for me." She says smiling.

"Alright. I'm going to step outside for a bit... see if she's nearby."

"Okay... and uh... thanks for the story." She smiles brighter now.

"Anytime kid." He says with a wink.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma is sitting in her bed using the headboard as a backrest. She looks up from reading the storybook to see Snow standing at the top of the stairs. "You're back?"

"I didn't go far. I was sitting on the stoop out front." She says with a sheepish smile.

"Oh." She smiles back knowingly.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"No I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come in accosting you about your past. It's just that... you know... the whole resenting you for abandoning me phase has come and gone and now I find myself wanting to know things about you. I forget you're not Mary Margaret anymore... I miss that about you or... her. She shared a lot with me that I never asked her to share and she spent a lot of time trying to get me to open up."

"I vaguely remember that it was much like pulling teeth with you... as Mary Margaret I mean."

"I know, believe me I know that now and I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left like I did."

"No, I pushed you too hard. I'm just trying to get to know you as Snow White... I got a little excited. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing to me... I'm the mother here." She laughs. "Emma... let me explain why I was so upset." She sits on the edge of the bed to face Emma.

"Okay."

"You know... as Mary Margaret I didn't always know what it felt like to be threatened but then the curse broke and I remembered... well I remembered everything, but we didn't even have one day to spend together in peace as a family because of the whole portal thing. Then we came home and I got to spend some time getting to know you and with everything you shared with me I started to feel like... It was more of an understanding that I..." She shakes her head unsure if she can continue.

"What?"

"I don't deserve to be a mother. I mean all the things I've done... could have done... tried to do... These are not things I am proud of. I've been on the edge of darkness too often. You said it yourself... you were afraid of me. How can someone like me, who frightens their own child no less, expect to be a good parent... a good mother?"

Emma chuckles heartily. "That's your only concern here?"

"Well... yes... it's a pretty big one."

"Oh God... I don't even know where to begin."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a story about my mother, in this book, and if you wrote a story about me and compared the pages you'd probably find a lot of things that match up. I grew up without my mother... she grew up without her mother... Eventually you and I met not knowing who we were to each other and here we are talking about how we can't possibly be mother and daughter for each other. You're worried you're not good enough and I'm worried that I'm not good enough."

Snow both laughs and cries now. "You are my daughter aren't you?"

"As if there was any doubt? Seriously... if you have any doubts just ask Henry. He's got us all figured out. He can clear up any technicalities for us." She says smiling.

She grabs Emma's hand and squeezes it. "We have our work cut out for us then. I guess we'll need a little give and take. You tell me your story and I'll tell you more of mine."

"Sounds like a plan."

"A promise really."

"So now what?"

"For starters..." She scoots herself onto the bed to sit up right next to Emma and gestures for Emma to hand over the story book, "Let me read to you... and when the time comes for either one of us we fill in the blanks."

"What is it with this family and stories?" Emma smiles.

Snow just laughs before reciting, "Once Upon a Time..."


End file.
